TDP chief and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu played key role in national politics for one-and-a-half decades after he usurped power from his uncle NTR in 1995.
He went on to become the NDA convenor and had his word prevailed on several national issues.
He was instrumental in the selection of APJ Abdul Kalam as President as he was the convenor of the NDA those days.
Before that as convenor of the United Front, Naidu was instrumental in the selection of H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral as Prime Ministers.
Even after moving the secular United Front to the BJP-led NDA, Chandrababu Naidu had played important role in the Delhi politics.
But things have started showing him a downward move from 2014 with tremors in his base in Andhra Pradesh following the entry of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
His life-time rival, Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, could not erode the base of Chandrababu Naidu, as Jagan Mohan Reddy had done.
Today, when the country is witnessing the election of the next President, Chandrababu Naidu is neither here nor there.
He is not even consulted by either the NDA or the UPA. He had become so insignificant in the national politics for the first time.
His one-time associate, Mamatha Benerji, too is not realising that Chandrababu Naidu exists and is to be consulted.
This is what happens when one loses the credibility. By moving from BJP to the Congress in the national politics and from the BSP and Jana Sena to the Communists in the regional politics, Naidu had aligned with every party and thus lost his credibility.